Scottish Government's climate plan doesn't add up

Very little of substance has changed in today’s final version of Scotland’s new climate action plan, the RPP2, from the draft deemed ‘not credible’ earlier this year.

The RPP2 is an important document which sets out how Scotland will meet its climate targets under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act of 2009, but the final plan discounts some of the major recommended improvements from Parliament and other stakeholders that were suggested during the Parliamentary scrutiny process.

Tom Ballantine, Chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, said:

“The Scottish Government’s plan is not the step change required to deliver our climate Act, especially as they failed to hit the first two emissions targets.

It is particularly concerning that recommendations from MSPs from all parties and stakeholders have not resulted in any significant change to this important plan.

“Relying on vague proposals, with delayed action until the mid 2020s, instead of financed policies in the short term, tells us that some Ministers are still not taking this anywhere near seriously enough.”

“It’s very worrying to see no increased effort in transport, where emissions are as high now as they were twenty years ago, and with a plan that doesn’t contain a single Scottish policy to reduce emissions from that sector.

“However the publication of this report is not the end of the story, and much more work is needed to ensure Scotland never misses a legally-binding climate target again. SCCS will continue to hold the government to account, particularly on how proposals in the RPP2 are being developed and we welcome today’s commitment from the cabinet to allocate more funding to secure policies in the RPP2”.

Tom Ballantine continued:

"We recognise the Climate Change Minister’s effort to make a number of improvements from the draft report in terms of detail and presentation, which has made the final report easier to understand. But this does not address the fundamental problem of a plan that does not provide certainty that future targets will be met”.

3. Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is a diverse coalition of more than 60 organisations campaigning together on climate change, including environment, faith and development organisations, trade and student unions and community groups. www.stopclimatechaos.org/scotland